PA names square after mastermind of Ma'alot Massacrein which 22 children and 4 adults were murdered

The "Martyr Khaled Nazzal Square"

inaugurated by PA officials from Jenin and the DFLP

Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik

The Palestinian Authority has named yet another square after a terrorist. The newly inaugurated "Martyr Khaled Nazzal Square," is named after the terror leader who planned the attack that led to the murder of 22 children and 4 adults in the Ma'alot Massacre on May 15, 1974. This is just the latest example of the PA's relentless glorification of terrorists.

This new square in Jenin is named after terrorist Khaled Nazzal, the Secretary of the Central Committee of the Democratic Front for Liberation of Palestine (DFLP), and commander of its military branch. He was responsible for the Ma'alot Massacre, during which terrorists took school children and their teachers as hostages, and eventually murdered 22 children and 4 adults. Terrorist Nazzal also planned an attack which resulted in the murder of 4 hostages in an apartment in Beit Shean (Nov. 11, 1974), and a shooting and grenade attack in central Jerusalem in which 1 was murdered and 47 others were wounded (April 2, 1984).

The "Martyr Khaled Nazzal Square" was inaugurated at a rally with PA officials, "under the auspices of the Jenin District and the [Jenin] municipality." Participants included the Deputy District Governor of the Jenin District, and the DFLP in Jenin.

Monument to terrorist Nazzal, "Martyr Khaled Nazzal Square,” in Jenin

Text on monument: "Martyr Khaled Nazzal Square

We must guard the flowers of the Martyrs (quote from song by Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish)

1948-1986, for free Palestine"

[Jeningate, independent Palestinian news website, June 15, 2017]

Deputy Mayor of Jenin Mahmoud Abu Mweis spoke at the event and "emphasized that our leadership and our people will continue on the path of the Martyrs."

Mughrabi led the most lethal terror attack in Israel's history, known as the Coastal Road massacre, in 1978, when she and other Fatah terrorists hijacked a bus, murdering 37 civilians, 12 of them children, and wounding over 70. The monument is shaped as the PA map of "Palestine" that includes all of Israel, and shows terrorist Mughrabi holding a rifle.

Text on the monument: "Martyr leader, Naif Abu Sharakh, commander of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, leader of the Martyrdom-seekers."

[Fatah-run Awdah TV, July 17, 2015]

Monument to suicide bomber Omar Muhammad Ziyada, in Madama

Ziyada carried out a suicide bombing that killed a 15-year-old girl and injured 16 others in the Israeli city of Herzliya, in 2002.

Below the picture of the terrorist are the words:

"The heroic Shahada-seeker (Martyrdom-seeker) Omar Muhammad Ziyada (Abu Samed) who carried out the heroic Herzliya operation on June 11, 2002."

The text above the terrorist's picture is a verse from the Quran:

"Fight them, and Allah will punish them by your hands, lay them low and give you victory over them, and heal the hearts of a believing people." [Quran, 9, 15]

The monument also displays the picture of Yasser Arafat.

[Official PA TV,
Aug.15, 2010]

The following is a longer excerpt of the report on the inauguration of the square in Jenin named after a terrorist:

Headline: "The inauguration of the Martyr Khaled Nazzal Square in Jenin"

"The Democratic Front [for the Liberation of Palestine] in Jenin yesterday [June 15, 2017] marked the anniversary of the death as a Martyr (Shahid) of its central committee members Khaled Nazzal, Omar Al-Qassem, and Bahij Al-Majdhub (i.e., all terrorists, see below -Ed.) on the 31st anniversary of the death as a Martyr of commander Khaled Nazzal, who was responsible for the [DFLP] forces assisting the Interior (i.e., Palestinian term for Israel). The Front inaugurated the Martyr Nazzal Square on the Jenin-Haifa Road and held a speech rally at the Jenin District hall, under the auspices of the Jenin District and the [Jenin] municipality...

Deputy District Governor of Jenin Kamal Abu Al-Rub emphasized that the response to the occupation and its aggression will only be possible through national unity.

Deputy Mayor of Jenin Mahmoud Abu Mweis said: 'This day is one of the days when Jenin and Palestine perpetuate the history of the great commander Martyrs on the land, stones, and trees. Today we perpetuate the history of Martyr Nazzal who was buried in the Al-Yarmouk refugee camp [in Syria], in order to emphasize that the souls of the Martyrs still live among us.' He [the deputy mayor] also emphasized that our leadership and our people will continue on the path of the Martyrs."

[Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, June 16, 2017]

Khaled Nazzal - Secretary of the Central Committee of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP), and commander of its military branch. He was responsible for terrorists taking school children as hostages and murdering 22 children and 4 adults in Ma'alot (May 15, 1974), the murder of 4 hostages in an apartment building in Beit Shean (Nov. 11, 1974), and a shooting and grenade attack in central Jerusalem in which 1 was murdered and 47 others were wounded (April 2, 1984).

Omar Al-Qassem - Led a terror squad that crossed from Jordan into Israel to carry out a terror attack in 1968. Intercepted by Israeli soldiers, the squad murdered two soldiers. Al-Qassem was given two life sentences, and died in prison 21 years later.

Bahij Al-Majdhub - A member of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP). He was killed in combat against the Israeli army in Sidon, Lebanon, in 1982 during the First Lebanon War.

Ahmad Jabarah Abu Sukkar ("Abu Sukkar") - planned a bombing attack in 1975 in which a refrigerator filled with explosives was detonated in Jerusalem. 15 people were killed and over 60 people were wounded. He was sentenced to life in prison plus 30 years, but was released from prison after 28 years as part of a goodwill gesture from Israel to the PA in 2003. He was a member of the Fatah Revolutionary Council and an advisor to Arafat on prisoners' affairs. He died of a heart attack in 2013 in the PA.

Dalal Mughrabi led the most lethal terror attack in Israel's history, known as the Coastal Road massacre, in 1978, when she and other Fatah terrorists hijacked a bus on Israel's Coastal Highway, murdering 37 civilians, 12 of them children, and wounding over 70.

Naif Abu Sharakh was the commander of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades (Fatah's military wing) in Nablus. He was involved in many terror attacks against Israel, including a double suicide bombing in Tel Aviv on Jan. 5, 2003 in which 23 people were killed and dozens injured. Abu Sharakh was killed by the Israeli army on June 26, 2004.

Omar Muhammad Ziyada carried out a suicide bombing in 2002 that killed a 15-year-old girl and injured 16 others in the Israeli city of Herzliya.

Mahmoud Darwish is considered the Palestinian national poet. He published over 30 volumes of poetry and 8 books of prose and has won numerous awards. He joined the Israeli Communist Party in 1961 and the terrorist organization PLO in 1973, becoming a member of the PLO Executive Committee in 1987. He left the PLO in 1993 because it signed the Oslo Accords with Israel.

Many in Israel see his poetry as inciting hate and violence. One poem he wrote in 1988 at the height of the Palestinian wave of violence and terror against Israel (the first Intifada, 1987-1993) calls to Israelis: “Take your portion of our blood - and be gone... Live wherever you like, but do not live among us... Die wherever you like, but do not die among us... Leave our country, our land, our sea, our wheat, our salt, our wounds, everything, and leave the memories of memory.”

He also wrote “Silence for the Sake of Gaza” in 1973, which many see as glorifying terror: “She wraps explosives around her waist and blows herself up. It is not a death, and not a suicide. It is Gaza's way of declaring she is worthy of life.”

His defenders have claimed that Israel misinterprets his poetry and that he sought reconciliation with Israel. One wrote in 2017: “Darwish arranged meetings between Palestinian and Israeli intellectuals, and published essays on their discussions. He was optimistic that, through mutual understanding, the two sides could eventually reconcile.” [https://www.bcalnoor.org/]